Tic, Toc, Trickster
by Soulhearts
Summary: Loki comes home in chains expecting centuries of torture or a death sentence, but at the sound of Gungnir's clang to the floor, a person suddenly appears! What's more, this person is none other than a 500 (15) year old Loki who has been pulled from his own time frame into a court of chaos! Can the Loki of the past redeem his future self, or is all hope for him lost after all?


Hello everyone, I am **Soulhearts**!

Today I was cleaning and I suddenly came up with this idea for a Thor fanfic. I knew I had to write it down or else I'd forget. I already have the next two chapters planned out and a pretty full idea of how this story will go, but **there may not be regular updates** - I am still trying to finish my other Thor fanfic "**Distances**" (which keeps throwing up writers block at every corner and _does_ get updated monthly so please check that out if you haven't already) - so I apologise in advance for that. Also, the chapters will be much longer than the prologue, so I'm sorry if this seems short. Still, I hope you can read this and enjoy. Please leave a review if you liked it or thought there was anything I could improve on.

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_Prologue_:

Thor and Loki were walking alongside each other one spring afternoon; the two of them headed to the outside training ring to get in some sword practice. Loki had _told_ him that he hadn't wanted to spar today, but Thor was insistent and, as usual, he had managed to drag Loki along, albeit with quite a number of irritated insults directed towards the older sun-haired boy. They were dressed in loose-fitting garments for fighting (Thor in a shirt and three-quarter length pants in his usual red and gold, and Loki in a grey half-sleeved shirt and dark red shorts that went just past his knees), and it was just as well because the day was quite hot. Loki knew he would feel ill after sparring with Thor in the ring – he wasn't good with the heat after all – but he would never complain about that to _Thor_. His older brother already thought him weak as it was, and he knew that he would be made fun of by the other warriors if he did not go.

"So, a-are you going to ask Lady Sif to dance with you?" Loki asked, continuing the conversation they had been having about Thor's party for his upcoming nameday. The pair had taken a short-cut through their mother's flower garden which was filled to the brim with red and white roses and was surrounded by tall, well-kept hedge. Their leather boots clacked softly against the granite pathway which wound its way all through the garden, right up to the edge of the practice arena.

"_Lady_ Sif now is it?" Thor chuckled, already knowing that Loki had a crush on his female friend. "God's Loki, don't let Sif hear you give her that title; she might even like you back!"

"Shut-up Thor!" Loki all but shrieked as he punched his brother in the side while blushing furiously.

Loki's punch hadn't hurt, and all Thor did was let loose an almighty laugh that sounded like happy thunder-claps. "So she's a Lady now… though, I'm sure only last Thursday she was a "Hábrók" which, if I recall correctly she believed that you meant she was a good archer, but then you said that the double meaning was 'high pants', implying that she always looked like a gawky bird with long legs." Thor teased mercilessly with a boyish grin on his face. "Plus you said she couldn't dance."

Loki's honest face suddenly crumpled up into a frown of dismay, and Thor quickly regretted his bad joke as he saw his brother's downhearted expression. "You're right…" Loki said so quietly that Thor almost missed it. Though, he appeared to be talking to himself anyway. "Even if I did ask her to dance, she'd probably just laugh in my face."

"Loki… I'm sure Sif wouldn't do that…" Thor felt so guilty now, and just looking at his brother's face made him want to curl up into a ball of shame; he hadn't meant for Loki to take his joke so seriously!

"Even… even if…" Loki stopped in his tracks and Thor quickly did the same. "Even if she _did_ dance with me, she'd still never return my feelings…" Loki announced solemnly as he shook his head in a dejected manner. "She likes _you_ after all."

Thor sighed and grabbed his miserable brother's shoulders tightly, a tiny smile of exasperation on his lips. "I've told you Loki… and I've told Sif too: I can never see her in that way. I see her as a sister and a loyal friend who would never betray me, but I cannot ever bring myself to see her as anything more than that. We're just not right for each other – we're both so headstrong, as you would put it. I told her to move on from me, just as you well know." Thor finished, happy that he had managed to explain his thoughts and reasons to his wiser, yet younger brother so eloquently.

Loki couldn't help but feel revolted and mildly disgusted with his brother's simple-minded reasoning, and some of it leaked out onto his face where is became an expression of both anger and sorrow. His elder brother was such a fool! He had everything Loki wanted but treated it as if it were nothing!

"Sif's feelings won't change so easily brother." He sniffed as he looked up at the deflating Thor, whom only now seemed to realise that his eloquently delivered lines were so tactlessly put. "No one's feelings change _that_ easily…" He added quietly so that only he could hear.

Thor hurried to correct his mistake. "You are right brother. That was very thoughtless of me… I am so sorry."

Loki shook his head of his crushed fantasies, looked up into Thor's eyes and plastered on a small fake smile for his guilt-ridden brother. After all, it wasn't exactly Thor's fault that Sif liked him. Nor was it his fault that he couldn't return her feelings. It was just the way of things.

"Forgive me Loki, please?" The thunderer pleaded, trying to cheer up his usually mischievous brother and put back the usual gleam of excitement in his eyes.

"I always do." Loki laughed weakly, and Thor sighed with relief as Loki started walking again – seeming back to his usual self.

Thor was about to try conversation on another, less sensitive topic, as they rounded the garden hedge when suddenly, there was a burst of blue light and a deafening noise. Wind rushed past their heads, while Loki struggled to stay upright as the wind pounded against him relentlessly and Thor moved his gaze from the ground to the source of the noise.

"_What in Hel's name is THAT!"_ Thor practically shouted over the force of the winds. Loki looked up only to discover that a strange black and blue hole had appeared before them. "_Are you doing this Loki?!"_

"_Don't be absurd!" _Loki screamed back in return as he gripped as his brother's arm in order to stay right-side-up. "_I have no idea what that thing is._"

Thor was whacked across the head repeatedly with a bunch of loose branches and twigs, but Loki seemed to be struggling to just stay on the ground.

"_It kind of looks like the Bifröst when father uses the gateway…" _Thor yelled at Loki over the sound of the ever increasing winds.

"_That must mean it's some kind of portal!_" Loki shouted anxiously. "_We have no idea where it leads – we have to get away from here Thor! For all we know it could lead us to Jötunheimr!_"

"_Right!_ _I'm on it!_" Thor hollered as he started turning around, Loki clutching at his arm as Thor tried desperately to move against the force of the strange, almost magical winds. What Thor didn't notice was Loki's grip steadily slipping. Nor did he hear the sound of Loki's frantic cries over the tirade of abuse winds that whistled past his ear.

"_Thor!_" Loki screamed madly as he was unexpectedly picked up off his feet. "_Help me!_"

But Thor didn't feel the fingers slip from his shirt, and he didn't notice Loki's absence until it was too late. Loki was pulled through the magical transport, immediately after which, it closed and the winds ceased. When the winds did stop, Thor collapsed onto his knees from the unexpected change of weather and he sighed as he turned around for his brother.

"Are you alright Loki? _Loki _–_!_"

Thor's head swivelled from side to side as he searched for his absent brother. "LOKI!" He cried out as he stood, frantically beginning to search around the nearby area for his missing brother. "LOKI WHERE ARE YOU!?"

But after a minute, the reality finally set in. "I… I have to… to tell father…" Thor muttered as he stumbled, one foot in front of the other as he headed back towards the palace. "I have to… tell father… he'll know what to do…"

His pace picked up and his resolve hardened, "_Father will know what to do! Father will find Loki_!" Thor yelled as he broke into an outright run, heading straight for Odin's throne room.

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**_Please review?_**


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